"It's begun. We're having a debate over socialism.

"Not over whether it's fair to call Democrats socialists. Not over whether socialism has been good for Venezuela or some other faraway, unfortunate country. But no-kidding socialist policies right here in the United States.

"The press attention to a new study of the costs of Medicare for All, or universal health coverage paid for by the government that goes much further than ObamaCare, is a sign that it is a live issue.

"Popularized by the socialist Bernie Sanders, Medicare for All is not just a fringy left-wing talking point anymore. It's a fringy plank of a growing element of the Democratic Party. A raft of prospective Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed the policy, while about a third of Democratic members of the House have joined a caucus devoted to it. ...

"It's hard to see Medicare for All as a plausible health care agenda even if Democrats swept all elected branches of government in Washington in 2020. But the first step toward achieving any policy goal is creating a national debate over it and swinging one of the major political parties behind it. Bernie Sanders has had considerable success in that effort, and the allure of 'free' health care -- like free anything -- can't be discounted.

"Republicans need to continue to develop and push their own ideas to reduce health-care costs, and adjust to the new reality where socialism doesn't simply represent a laugh line, but a battle that needs to be won."

Read entire article here.

"With another judge confirmed Tuesday by the Senate, President Trump and Senate Republicans are leaving an ever-expanding imprint on the judiciary, nudging powerful appeals courts rightward through a determined effort to nominate and confirm a steady procession of young conservative jurists.

"The confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would tilt the balance of the nation's highest court, but, already, the president and the Senate have proved strikingly efficient at installing judges to lifetime appointments on appeals courts that handle far more cases.

"The narrow, 52-to-46 appeals court confirmation on Tuesday of Britt C. Grant, 40, a Georgia Supreme Court justice who was once a clerk for Judge Kavanaugh, was Mr. Trump's 24th circuit court appointment -- more than any other president had secured at this point in his presidency since the creation of the regional circuit court system in 1891, according to an analysis of judicial records by The New York Times. The Senate did not confirm President Barack Obama's 24th nominee to the regional circuit courts until the fourth year of his presidency."

"When our team of auditors at OpenTheBooks.com reviewed the most highly compensated employees at every level of government in Florida, we found more than 35,000 state and local government employees brought home six and seven-figure salaries, costing taxpayers $5.5 billion annually.

"Since last year, the headcount of these high-compensated Florida government workers jumped by nearly 4,000 employees.

"The list of high earners includes an airport director accepting retirement payments and a working salary; a city attorney making $436,918; a junior college president making $386,578; and a county administrator making $346,722. There are even 26 small-town, village, and city managers out-earning every governor of the 50 states. ...

"Florida was ranked the number one fiscally responsible state in 2017. However, with public higher education employees bringing home six and seven figures, numerous small-time municipal leaders earning more annually than state governor, and a history of high earners accepting pensions and active paychecks at the same time, perhaps its practices are worth reevaluating."

Read entire article here.

"Therapists around Washington, D.C., are noticing a sharp increase in patients describing symptoms of what has been called Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"'There is a fear of the world ending,' said DC Counseling and Psychotherapy Center founder, Elisabeth LaMotte, referring to some of President Donald Trump's decisions. 'It's very disorienting and constantly unsettling.' ...

"Urban Dictionary defines Trump Derangement Syndrome as 'a mental condition in which a person has been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the point at which they will abandon all logic and reason.'"

"Henry Kissinger suggested to President Donald Trump that the United States should work with Russia to contain a rising China.

"The former secretary of state -- who famously engineered the tactic of establishing diplomatic relations with China in order to isolate the Soviet Union -- pitched almost the inverse of that idea to Trump during a series of private meetings during the presidential transition, five people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. The potential strategy would use closer relations with Russia, along with other countries in the region, to box in China's growing power and influence."

Read entire article here.

"In San Francisco, immigrants who are in the country illegally are now eligible to register and vote in school board elections. Of course, this is clearly illegal under the California Constitution.

"Article II, Section 2 of the California Constitution says: 'A United States citizen 18 years of age and resident in this State may vote.'

"However, the pro-illegal immigration, sanctuary state-supporting Democratic majority in the state Legislature has no interest in enforcing the law when it's being ignored by fellow Democrats.

"After all, the long-range plans Democrats have for a ruling majority depend on continuous law- breaking to get enough non-Americans to vote. The Californians who don't support the radical views of Democrats can simply be eclipsed by non-citizen voters supporting the Democrats. ...

"A sound immediate step would be for Congress to pass a law reaffirming that you must be an American citizen to vote in all American elections. Let's see how many Democrats would oppose this simple requirement."

"Georgia's Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump on July 18, defeated his opponent Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle on Tuesday, securing his candidacy for governor in a primary runoff election.

"Kemp was just one of several other Republican nominees up for election in November who secured his party's nomination after rallying the support of the president, proving Trump's influence over the outcome of 2018's primaries. Kemp won the nomination with 69.4 percent of the vote, beating Cagle, who got 30.6 percent of the vote, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Kemp raked in 294,763 votes to Cagle's 129,861 votes.

"In the race for governor, the Trump favorite, who campaigned on hard-line immigration and pro-gun policies, will be up against Stacey Abrams come November, potentially the first black female governor in the United States, according to The Washington Post."

"As for Russia itself, it is as much an enemy or friend of the U.S. as is China. But its espionage campaign against the U.S. pales in scope and resources to that of the Chinese. Russia's aggressions along its borders do not match China's intimidation of neighbors or its creation and militarization of some atolls in the Spratly Islands or its neocolonial global initiatives.

"North Korea's nuclear proliferation was mostly the work of China, not Russia. Russia worries about China and radical Islam almost as much as we do. In terms of population and economic clout, current defense investments, and bellicosity shown the U.S., China is the existential threat, not Russia.

"All that is not to say that Putin would not act like China if he could, only that he lacks the wherewithal to do so, with an economy one-twentieth the size of ours, and with longstanding crises of demography, longevity, and social equilibrium. Without his nuclear arsenal, Putin's would be as dangerous to the U.S. as an Iran or Venezuela. ...

"It is difficult now to imagine what else Trump might still do to punish Putin. He has already beefed up sanctions, expelled Russians, had Russian mercenary thugs killed in Syria, sent threats to Putin not to overreach in Syria, armed the Ukrainians, expanded U.S. oil production, increased defense spending, jawboned NATO to toughen up, and blasted German-Russian appeasement and the dangerous developing German dependency on Russian fossil fuels.

"What more concrete action do Trump haters want: air strikes on Moscow? Or would they prefer that Trump drop all the above of punitive action, if Trump only would guarantee Putin that after his envisioned reelection in 2020, American policy would be 'more flexible' in ending all talk of U.S. missile defense in Eastern Europe?"

Read entire article here

"The weekend release of a highly-redacted version of the FBI's application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to wiretap onetime Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page has renewed the argument over the Nunes memo -- the brief report produced by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes detailing problems in the application. From the time of the memo's release in February, Democrats and some in the press have denounced it as a collection of lies and mischaracterizations. On Saturday night, the denouncing started again. 'The only thing the newly released FISA documents show is that Republicans have been lying for months,' the lefty think tank Center for American Progress said in a typical response.

"Now, however, we have both the memo and the FISA application, if in a blacked-out state. We can compare the two. And doing so shows the Nunes memo was overwhelmingly accurate. Perhaps some Democrats do not believe it should have been written, or they dispute what it included and left out, or they do not agree with its conclusions, but it was in fact accurate."

"Sen. Joe Manchin has a potentially worrisome re-election race this fall, but a new West Virginia poll shows one surefire way to increase his favorable odds: a vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

"A Trafalgar Group survey out Thursday puts Manchin at a whopping 29-point advantage over his Republican competitor, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey -- if he chooses to vote for Kavanaugh. Conversely, a vote against the nominee puts Manchin at a mere two-point lead -- a statistical dead heat that falls within the poll's margin of error.

"In the RealClearPolitics polling average, Manchin holds a seven-point lead in a state currently rated 'leans Democratic.' In the Trafalgar poll, Manchin holds a 10-point lead without adding the question about Kavanaugh."